A Democratic senator appeared to regret his overreaction to the report that migrants were tear gassed at the U.S.-Mexico border after attacking border officials — but it was documented on social media after he deleted it.
"WHO GAVE THE ORDER?"
Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz from Hawaii expressed his outrage on his social media account after hearing that border officials had used tear gas to repel migrants who were attempting to illegally enter the United States.
Is this legal? Is this moral? Is this accurate? What is happening here? https://t.co/4BBFsLvUwE— Brian Schatz (@Brian Schatz)1543183749.0
"Is this legal? Is this moral?" he tweeted. "Is this accurate? What is happening here?"
"Who gave the order?" he added. "Did it implement or contravene policy?"
"WHO GAVE THE ORDER?" he continued in capitalized letters.
"Anyone uncomfortable with spraying tear gas on children is welcome to join the coalition of the moral and the sane," he added. "We can argue about other stuff when we’ve got our country back."
Who gave the order?— Brian Schatz (@Brian Schatz)1543187885.0
WHO GAVE THE ORDER?— Brian Schatz (@Brian Schatz)1543188138.0
Anyone uncomfortable with spraying tear gas on children is welcome to join the coalition of the moral and the sane.… https://t.co/DTCA4mCMDF— Brian Schatz (@Brian Schatz)1543188368.0
But he deleted another reaction where he compared the tear gas use to "chemical weapons." That tweet was roundly mocked and criticized — and screenshots were posted to social media for posterity.
Lmao United States senator. We’re doomed. https://t.co/ibUp6F7bBm— Seth Mandel (@Seth Mandel)1543189134.0
Schatz responded to mockery over the comparison and explained why he chose to delete the tweet.
"I went ahead and deleted the one about chemical weapons because I just don’t know enough about what happened," he said. "Does this not strike you as excessive?"
Schatz didn't respond to reports and videos that the migrants were reacting to resistance from border officials by throwing rocks at them through the fence.
Here's the latest about the caravan migrants at the border:
On Monday, another media narrative about the caravan migrants was extinguished by an MSNBC reporter who admitted that they were mostly young males who were not seeking refugee status.